The Continuation of Lorash Sunbeam's Story in Patch 8.1 (Spoilers)

Lorash Sunbeam, an important character from the War of the Thorns novellas, has his story continued in Patch 8.1 Tides of Vengeance. Spoilers below.\r\rNew Lorash Model\rThe latest datamining added a new model for Lorash. Killed in the War of the Thorns, he has now been raised into Undeath.\r\r\r\r\rLorash in War of the Thorns\rLorash Sunbeam grew up extremely resentful of the Night Elves' decision to exile the Highborne, due to a lifetime of hardship. His father died in the cold in Tirisfal Glades, his childhood friends were killed by Amani Villagers, and his mother was killed by the Scourge.\r\rIn the War of the Thorns, Lorash leads the initial attack on the Sentinels, killing Commander Anairs Windwood, which puts Delaryn Summermoon next in line to lead the troops. In the quest Everybody Has a Price, we see that while the Horde quest only asks you to kill Sentinels, he's fine with killing civilians. The dead civilians are canon, as the Alliance players later find civilian corpses.\r\rTechnically, we don't need to kill civilians... but I like your style.\rThat wasn't a guard, but far be it from me to stop us from murdering the Alliance.\rHey, careful with the civilians. We may draw the guards' attention.\rI'm going to look the other way on that one. I can't say I've killed a man in his sleep before.\r\rIn the novella "A Good War", Lorash is determined to face Malfurion Stormrage. When asked why he wants to fight the kaldorei, as they share the same ancestors, Lorash explains his bitterness and anger over the Night Elves providing little aid as the Highborne faced numerous hardships.\r\rBelow you can read the full excerpt of their confrontation from "A Good War":\r\rAnd so, Lorash was alone. He had faintly heard Malfurion\u2019s booming voice and Saurfang\u2019s taunting replies. Many of the night elves had retreated this way, so he suspected Malfurion would, too. The night elf leader would need to join them to plan the next phase of their defense.\r\rAnd maybe, just maybe, Malfurion would be distracted. He had suffered a loss. His mind might be occupied.\r\rThe sound of a foot pressing down on soft leaves brought a smile to Lorash\u2019s face. The time had come. For my father . . . for my mother . . . for my people!\r\rHis ankles moved. He fell headfirst toward the ground, a dagger gripped tightly in each hand. He had timed this perfectly. Malfurion was directly underneath him, not looking up.\r\rLorash swept both daggers in an arc. When they crossed, they would meet Stormrage\u2019s neck, removing his head.\r\rThey never crossed.\r\rMalfurion stepped aside. The instant before Lorash crashed into the ground, tree roots burst out of the earth and slapped his wrists. He dropped his daggers. He cried out in surprise as he landed on his right shoulder and neck. There was a sharp jolt of pain. His right arm went numb, but Lorash could still move.\r\rMore roots took that away from him, too. Before he could leap to his feet, roots wrapped tightly around his wrists, ankles, and neck, pinning him to the ground, immobilizing him.\r\rDamn.\r\rLorash fought against the roots for only a moment, but it was useless. They could have already killed him, crushed the life out of him, or ripped his limbs off his body. But they hadn\u2019t. The blood elf stared up hatefully at Malfurion, who looked back down on him with pity.\r\r\u201cThis is senseless. This invasion is senseless,\u201d Malfurion said softly. \u201cBrother, we should not be enemies.\u201d\r\rLorash\u2019s daggers lay several feet away from him. They might as well have been worlds away. He had two shurikens tucked in his sleeves, but that was it. He had no doubt he would die if he tried to throw them. Not unless he could distract Stormrage.\r\r\u201cThe rest of the Horde, I can fathom. Sylvanas, I can fathom,\u201d Malfurion continued, \u201cbut our peoples once lived together. We fought together in the same wars, and we died for one another. It was true long ago, and it was true only a few months ago, out on the Broken Isles. There should be no divide between my kaldorei and your sin\u2019dorei.\u201d\r\rLorash hissed through the root that gripped his throat. \u201cAnd who created that divide, Stormrage?\rWho exiled my people?\u201d\r\r\u201cI remember the faces of those who left that day. Yours was not among them,\u201d Malfurion said. \u201cAre you invading my homeland because you heard stories from before you were born? Or are you blindly following orders from your fallen warchief? I cannot decide which is worse.\u201d\r\rLorash still wasn\u2019t dead. That surprised him greatly. Malfurion wants to talk. A leader of the night elf people genuinely believed that the blood elves had no reason to take part in this battle.\r\rLorash was happy to educate him.\r\r\u201cYes, that all happened before I was born,\u201d he said. \u201cI was born in Tirisfal Glades. As a child, I had to flee with my family and all the rest. I remember wandering for years. I remember a long winter trapped in the mountain peaks. I remember my father hunting despite the cold, losing one finger to the frost, then two. I remember one day he never returned at all. How many of your people have frozen to death, Malfurion? Do we share that history, too?\u201d\r\rMalfurion did not answer. Lorash smiled inwardly. He could not use his daggers, but he could still make Stormrage bleed.\r\r\u201cI remember centuries of warfare against the trolls,\u201d Lorash continued. \u201cI remember seeing pieces of my childhood friends decorating the huts and villages of the Amani. Trophies, you see. Was it the kaldorei who came to our aid in those days? No. I remember the day death itself marched on our new homeland. When my mother died and was raised into the Lich King\u2019s army, who had to kill her and put her to rest? Was it you, Malfurion, who stood with us as we lost our homeland?\u201d\r\r\u201cMy people had just repelled the Burning Legion and, in doing so, lost our homeland,\u201d Malfurion said sharply. \u201cAnd despite the years of war between our two factions, we never attacked your home.\r\rWe have never even dreamed of it.\u201d\r\r\u201cI have dreamed of little else,\u201d Lorash said.\r\r\u201cThen I am glad most of your kind is not as lost as you.\u201d\r\r\u201cAnd I am glad that you will live to see my kind conquering your home,\u201d Lorash said. How far can I push this? His heart told him he had already gone too far. His soul told him to go even farther. \u201cDoes that thought fill you with disgust? The temples of Elune filled with sin\u2019dorei?\u201d\r\rLorash saw a flash of movement, dark and swift, out of the corner of his eye. Someone was coming Malfurion looked up. He had noticed it, too.\r\r\u201cYou,\u201d said Malfurion.\r\r\u201cIshnu\u2010dal\u2010dieb,\u201d said Sylvanas Windrunner, raising her bow.\r\rThis was Lorash\u2019s chance. His only chance. His hands wrestled against the roots, and his fingers desperately stretched toward his last two shurikens. It took only a heartbeat.\r\rIn that heartbeat, a war raged above him.\r\rThe blood elf watched in awe. Shadow\u2010wreathed arrows and green\u2010laced magic darted through the air. A burst of dark power shoved Malfurion back, and Lorash felt the roots binding him go loose.\r\rLorash drew both arms back, shurikens held so tightly he felt the tips pricking his palms. He didn\u2019t care if he poisoned himself. He was so close, so close . . .\r\rMalfurion looked at him, at the weapons in his hands, and the root around Lorash\u2019s throat squeezed.\r\rLorash heard a grinding crunch. His eyes were still open, his mind was still racing, but his body wouldn\u2019t obey him. His lungs wouldn\u2019t draw breath. His entire body was numb. His thoughts were fading.\r\r\u201cYour kind has not conquered my home yet,\u201d he heard Malfurion say. Was that to him or Sylvanas?\r\rLorash did not know.\r\rA few moments passed. Blackness pulsed in his vision. That was his own poison, probably. Sylvanas Windrunner stood over him, saying something he couldn\u2019t hear. If Lorash was seeing her, Malfurion must have retreated.\r\rDamn. He still lives.\r\rLorash had failed. He wondered if he would see his family on the other side.\r\rImplications of Raising Lorash\rWhile Sylvanas has raised High Elves before such as Dark Ranger Velonara, a dedicated Farstrider of Quel'Thalas, she has not done so recently. Lor'themar explicitly forbade Sylvanas to raise Blood Elves during the Siege of Orgrimmar:\r\rLady Sylvanas Windrunner says: I can raise your dead, Regent Lord. Your rangers can fight again.\rLor'themar Theron says: Sylvanas! You will leave our corpses alone or I will deal with you here and now.\rLady Sylvanas Windrunner says: I'm sorry to see your lack of commitment... What of the human corpses?\rLor'themar Theron says: ... well, I suppose that's between you and the Alliance, isn't it?\r\rWill Lor'themar be upset over this development if he finds out? We recently datamined a new Lor'themar model in Patch 8.1, and characters with new models tend to play important roles in future story patches.\r\r\r\rWe're also curious to see if Lorash will attempt to kill Malfurion again, as both have surprisingly survived the War of the Thorns. He didn't seem like a particularly nice character while he was alive, and could be especially lawless in undeath.\r\rSylvanas Raising Night Elves\rLorash is not the only character from War of the Thorns raised in Patch 8.1. Delaryn Summermoon, the heroic Night Elf forced to watch Teldrassil burn, is also raised by Sylvanas. While Sylvanas formerly only raised humans as Forsaken, with the understanding that the Val'kyr would only bring back willing participants, something rings false about the raising of Sira and Delaryn, Night Elves dedicated to preserving their beloved homeland. Their abrupt personality shifts in the 8.1 Darkshore questline when raised lead to speculation that Sylvanas is mind-controlling them and will do whatever it takes to increase the ranks of the Forsaken loyal to her. It doesn't quite make sense why Lorash and Delaryn, bitter enemies during the War of the Thorns, would suddenly be united in undeath and work together.\r\r\r\rWith the raising of Lorash as a Blood Elf, and now Delaryn and Sira as Night Elves, she is expanding the number of races she can bring back to life. In the quest Dark Ranger Round-Up, Nathanos anticipates the surprise of the player when asked to raise Night Elves:\rThese night elf ambushes have left us undermanned. We need reinforcements if we are to hold Darkshore. Brynja, one of the Dark Lady's val'kyr, can provide us with those reinforcements. Slay the night elves and command her to raise the willing ones into our service. ...Did I not make myself clear? Go. The Dark Lady has plans for these Dark Rangers.\r\rSylvanas desperately wants to continue creating Forsaken, as we've seen before in the Eyir Stormheim questline (A New Life for Undeath). She's also afraid of passing into permanent death, an increasingly-pressing worry as more of her Val'kyr with the capabilities to resurrect are killed over the course of several expansions. As she gets more brazen in raising the fallen to serve her, we're reminded of her ulterior motives from "A Good War:"\r\r\rElune had intervened. Perhaps she had even stayed Saurfang\u2019s killing blow. And she wouldn\u2019t be the only force beyond the Alliance to oppose Sylvanas\u2019s true objective.\r\rSylvanas\u2019s anger grew cold.\r\rShe had known this would happen. It had simply come sooner than expected. That was all.\r\rWe further learn in Patch 8.1, in a new Spirit of Vol'jin questline, that Bwonsamdi and the Lich King also disapprove of Sylvanas' actions, concerned that she disrupts the balance between life and death. Saurfang deserted the Horde back in the Zandalari Escape from Stormwind, and remaining leaders such as Baine and Talanji are increasingly-concerned about Sylvanas as well.\r\rWith the action of raising Lorash, Sylvanas will provoke Lor'themar as well, alienating most of the Horde leaders. What started off as a battle to ensure the survival of the Horde now appears to be one with darker implications, in which nobody is safe from Sylvanas' resurrection.

Comments

Comment by Drorith

Comment by Nickname404

Sob... Long live Lorash, lorebender and iconic character for edgy rebels... Praise his imperishable corpse and wonderfully straight neck...

Comment by Crusadyr

on 2018-10-25T16:34:11-05:00

What is with Lor'themar's Marge Simpson hair?

Comment by Albaharmamar

on 2018-10-25T16:34:18-05:00

My boi is BACK

Comment by omedon666

on 2018-10-25T16:34:38-05:00

Oh they are totally setting up \u201cdarkshore elven undead\u201d and \u201clightforged undead\u201d as opposing allied races, whether they mess with the faction division mechanics or not!

Comment by Thaleras

on 2018-10-25T16:35:05-05:00

So this blood elf was born before the foundation of Quel'Thalas ? Seems that it changes a lot the old information regarding maximum age for the thalassian elves that were in the (yeah Iknow non-canonical but still useful) RPG books. :O

Comment by DolanJTrump

on 2018-10-25T16:36:22-05:00

Of course you get people like Lorash when propaganda spewers like Liadrin chant alternate history to make the blood elves look better.

Comment by Brand

on 2018-10-25T16:39:07-05:00

Lor'themar has that pointy pony tail most probably because it's a free flowing model piece, and will hang and sway in game depending on movement, but in the model viewer it is just a rigid polygonal mass.

Comment by Jimbrooks

on 2018-10-25T16:40:24-05:00

What is with Lor'themar's Marge Simpson hair?\r\rNo hair physics yet

Comment by Wishblade

on 2018-10-25T16:40:25-05:00

Really hope Lor'themar will get a bit upset because of this. More for Team Saurfang!\r\rNot sure how she'd upset Gallywix though... Ruin his fortune or inventions or get war machines from... Wait a second... Imagine recruiting Ashvane to do the azerite war-making instead of Gallywix and now we've got everyone with a reason to dislike her among the Horde leadership!

Comment by flashybutton0

on 2018-10-25T16:42:29-05:00

nice bias and headcanon at the end

Comment by Flyn

on 2018-10-25T16:43:55-05:00

I can't wait to see how Blizzard will manage to get out of this whole mess they just made

Comment by Anaide

on 2018-10-25T16:47:41-05:00

Thank you, Lich Queen.

Comment by CollapsingCataly

on 2018-10-25T16:49:30-05:00

and the Lich King also disapprove of Sylvanas' actions, concerned that she disrupts the balance between life and death\r\rI don't wanna hear it from that guy

Comment by Shadowlyger

on 2018-10-25T16:57:57-05:00

I find it unlikely Lor'themar will care so much about a single Blood Elf being raised, particularly since Lorash is probably a-okay with it.

Comment by ArktiqStorm

on 2018-10-25T17:00:58-05:00

I'm curious if they expand upon Nathanos' orders of 'raise the willing ones'. I know some Nelves were bitter about Tyrande an Maiev, but I'm curious to see how that ties in to raising them.\r\rAlso, it sucks because I'm kind of behind Sylvanas and she and Lor always had at least somewhat of an understanding between them. It'd suck if they tarnished that relationship just to make her more of 'the villain',

Comment by Revenor

on 2018-10-25T17:20:53-05:00

nice bias and headcanon at the end\r\rIt's not bias, it's common sense. The information on the story's progress is readily available.